622 



8 



and 1st June (O. S.). Von Schrenck does not record it; but Dr. G. Radde says that after sunset 

 he frequently saw it passing in the woods between the Bystraja brooks and the watershed of the 

 streams on the south-east corner of Lake Baikal. In the Bureja Mountains he flushed it on the 

 28th August (O. S.) 1858, in the central Salbatche valley, and on the 4th September saw it on 

 passage. In China, according to Mr. B. Swinhoe, it is a not uncommon winter visitant; and he 

 saw one alive in the Chefoo market as late as the 30th of April. Mr. H. Whitely, who obtained 

 it in Japan, writes (Ibis, 1867, p. 206) as follows: — "My specimen of this bird was obtained at 

 Hakodadi, October 6th, 1865, from a native bird-catcher. I saw several others, but, owing to 

 the damaged state of the plumage, could not preserve them. In my rambles near Hakodadi I 

 have sometimes flushed a Woodcock in one particular clump of trees, but was never fortunate 

 enough to shoot it." It was at this spot only that I ever observed it. 



It has occurred once at St. John's, Newfoundland, on the 9th January 1862 ; and, according 

 to Mr. G. N. Lawrence, one, believed to have been killed near Shrewsbury, New Jersey, was 

 bought in a market in December 1859, these being, so far as I can ascertain, the only instances 

 on record of its occurrence in the Nearctic Region. 



Like the Double-Snipe the Woodcock is chiefly a nocturnal bird, remaining during the day 

 in dense woods, and, if undisturbed, moves but little from its resting-place until the evening, when 

 it rouses itself from its state of inactivity, and frequents the more open country, searching after 

 food until the early morning, when it returns to its sheltered cover again. Except during passage, 

 it is solitary in its habits ; and seldom more than a pair or a brood are found in the same locality 

 during the breeding-season. It frequents wooded and hilly districts where wet patches or 

 morasses are in the immediate vicinity. In the spring and summer the Woodcock has a some- 

 what curious habit of flying backwards and forwards over the same line of country, uttering its 

 peculiar call-note, previous to proceeding to its feeding-grounds in the evening, and to returning 

 to cover in the early morning. In Scandinavia large numbers are shot by men who ascertain 

 where one of these lines of country is, and station themselves there to shoot the birds as they 

 pass — a mode which is certainly, in our eyes, most unsportsmanlike, and calculated to do as 

 much harm as the practice of shooting Capercaillie and Blackgame when collected together 

 for pairing. Mr. Lloyd, in his work on the game-birds of Scandinavia, gives some interest- 

 ing details from the works of Scandinavian authors, from which I extract the following notes 

 by Mr. Ekstrom : — " During its morning and evening flights at this time, the Woodcock gives 

 utterance to a peculiar call-note, which sportsmen express by knort, Jcnort, knisp, or more 

 properly, perhaps, by orrt, orrt, pisp. The first, Jcnort or orrt, is a hollow, coarse, and somewhat 

 lengthened nasal sound; the second, knisp or pisp, a short, fine, and sharp sort of whistle, which, 

 when one is accustomed to it, may be heard at a considerable distance. This note clearly appears 

 to be one by which the betrothed invite each other to pairing ; for the bird seems to pay very little 

 attention to the orrt, but always listens and looks about it as soon as it hears the pisp. When 

 two Woodcocks whilst ' roding ' meet, or come into near proximity, they chase each other ; and 

 whilst casting themselves with the rapidity of lightning amongst the trees and bushes, even to 

 the very ground, they give quick and hurried utterance to their finer note pis]). Although one 

 can seldom witness actual pairing, it is certain that these actions of theirs are preparatory to the 



